Today we turn our attention to St Jerome, a Church Father who centered his life on the Bible: he translated it into Latin, commented on it in his works, and above all, strove to live it in practice.

He received Baptism in about 366 and opted for the ascetic life. He then left for the East and lived as a hermit in the desert, devoting himself assiduously to study. Meditation, solitude and contact with the Word of God helped his Christian sensibility to mature. In 382 he moved to Rome. Pope Damasus engaged him as secretary and counsellor; and encouraged him to embark on a new Latin translation of the Biblical texts. After the death of Pope Damasus, Jerome left Rome and went on pilgrimage, first to the Holy Land and then to Egypt.

In 386 he stopped in Bethlehem. He stayed there until he died, continuing to do a prodigious amount of work: he commented on the Word of God; he defended the faith, vigorously opposing various heresies; he urged the monks on to perfection; he taught classical and Christian culture… Jerome's literary studies and vast erudition enabled him to revise and translate many biblical texts. Jerome was able, with the assistance later of other collaborators, to produce a better translation: this constitutes the so-called “Vulgate”, the “official” text of the Latin Church.

—St Jerome said: «Ignorance of the Scriptures is ignorance of Christ».